A distributor of online video content has filed a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission, asking the agency to stop broadband providers from blocking or slowing peer-to-peer traffic. The petition filed by Vuze, which uses the BitTorrent peer-to-peer protocol to distribute Web content, asks the FCC to set rules for network management by ISPs. Vuze’s filing late Wednesday follows reports last month that cable broadband provider Comcast slows some peer-to-peer traffic, including BitTorrent. Vuze’s FCC petition is similar in some ways to calls by consumer groups and Internet-based firms for the FCC or the Congress to pass Network Neutrality rules, which would prohibit broadband providers from blocking or slowing Web content from competitors. The FCC has had an open inquiry into net neutrality rules since April, and a push to pass rules in Congress has stalled. But the Vuze proposal is more focused than net neutrality, BianRosa said. Net neutrality often includes other issues in addition to content blocking, including requirements for broadband and wireless providers to allow all legal devices to connect to their networks. Vuze is asking the FCC to “dig deeper” than the net neutrality debate, he said. Public Knowledge, a group promoting consumer rights on the Internet, praised the Vuze filing. Vuze is a good example of the harm caused by content blocking, said Gigi Sohn, Public Knowledge’s president.
[SOURCE: InfoWorld, AUTHOR: Grant Gross]
http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/11/15/Video-distributor-FCC-stop-ISP-traffic-throttling_1.html
* Vuze Seeks FCC Regulations on Network Management
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6501629.html?rssid=193
* Public Knowledge Supports Vuze FCC Petition To Ban Internet Discrimination
